CBS Playhouse (TV Series) Sadbird (1969) User Reviews

Great!

[jmes-2 · 10/10 · 2 September 2005]

Oh My God! I have been trying to confirm that this has existed for YEARS! I saw it in '69 when it was first on TV. All my searches for "Sad Bird" have resulted in zero hits. Enough of that - it was/is an excellent story about marketing/planned obsolescence and an executive that lived with it (I could be TOTALLY wrong, but after 35+ years, that is my recollection). Sad Bird was a toy bird that flew around the room and at some point dropped to the ground - showing how the world and life truly is ... it comes to an end and don't depend on anything! Whatever the actual story line is, I remember it fondly and would LOVE to see it again ...

Jim

A Lost Classic

[htp-1 · 10/10 · 30 May 2007]

A minor correction and amplification to Jim's comment above -

The protagonist first invented a toy called "Happy Bird" that was able to fly around the room and sing. He was told that the product would be a failure because people hated success. Instead, he was advised to create a toy that tried to fly but never could get far off the ground and would only wind up on the floor again trying to fly. The cynical reason for "Sad Bird" was that people would much rather see something continually struggle and fail. The protagonist created "Sad Bird" and ended up quite well off.

This play was definitely a product of the late 60's and one that impacted my thinking in college. I hope that there's a video tape of this play on some shelf in the CBS library.

The sometimes painful process of growing up

[mikedenley · 1 July 2007]

This made for television show contrasted the changing desires of a young business man caught between joining his commune loving friends and his new desire to join big business. In short, his group needs cash to move to a commune. He then takes a job in a toy company, comes up with an idea for a toy bird that cannot fly. It's plight grabs immediate attention. Somehow the mob gets involved, wants a piece of the pie, and our hero makes them a toy bird that does fly, gets his friends their money, while he becomes enamored with a young woman who comes with the business territory. The movie shows our hero's persona morphing from a hippie, into a business type. He painfully chooses to send his friends on, despite their begging him to join them as he embraces the business world and the new girl.

Sadbird...a happy memory

[tjgoldrup-666-782871 · 29 September 2017]

I spent two days working on the set of this show and if anyone has word of a copy of this CBS Playhouse episode I would love to see it again. My scene was in a coffee house and my memory is basically of this scene as it has been nearly a half century since I saw it. Story concerns Robert Foxworth's dilemma as to whether he should go with his hippy friends or enter the world of big business with an invention of a toy bird that cannot fly.